A former church secretary and bookkeeper will spend three years in prison for stealing more than $364,000 from a La Crosse congregation.

Ann Carson embezzled the money over the course of a decade, taking more than $85,000 worth of donations made in memory of loved ones at North Presbyterian Church, according to court testimony.

The theft was discovered after a church member attempted a financial audit in 2009. Carson did not meet with him, but an external audit showed Carson had been writing checks to herself and falsifying the books.

“She was our friend and a person we trusted with our feelings as well as our offerings,” the Rev. Scott Skogen said. “She embezzled money that could have done so much good.”

Carson, 47, made a tearful apology to a courtroom including her family and church members.

“I can only imagine the pain the congregation is feeling,” she said. “And for that I’m so very sorry.”

Carson’s sentence includes 15 years on extended supervision and requires her to apply a quarter of her earnings toward repaying $364,418.12.

Despite arguments from Carson’s attorney that mental illness fueled her behavior, Judge Ramona Gonzalez said Carson showed remorse only at being caught — not for a decade of betrayed trust.

“The breaking of a trust is something the law has no power to replace,” Gonzalez said. “You have to pay and you don’t have the money. The only thing I can take from you to pay is your time and your freedom.”

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